Process of producing ethylene gas.



NITED STATES JAMES ALBERT DEUTI-IER,

or BUFFALO, NEW YORK;

PROCESS OF PRODUCING ETHYLENE GAS;

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 647,559, dated April17,1900.

Application filed November 14, 1895.

To a, whom it may concern.-

Beitknown that I,J AMES ALBERT DEUTHER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and'State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture ofEthylene Gas; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a novel and improved method in the productionor manufacture of ethylene or olefiant gas O H as expressed.

My improvements are embodied in a simple and direct process by which theexpenseheretofore incurred in the-production of the gas is greatlydiminished. Heretofore one method of producing this gas was in treatingthe red precipitate of cuprous acetylene with metallic zinc in asolution of ammonia. In this Way nascent hydrogen is produced andethylene or olefiant gas is formed.

Myinvention is embodied in the novel and radically-new process in sotreating any one of the metals-calcium, barium, strontium, or analogousmetalswith a sufficiency of carbon that when this compound is placed inwater the gas 0 H is produced.

Briefly stated, my invention is the novel one of creating ethylene gasin a pure state by producing nascent hydrogen free from objectionableimpurities in the presence of or simultaneously with G H Such has neverheretofore been obtained to my knowledge. In the present formula I willinstance the production of this gas by the use of calcium. Moreover, bymaking a compound with an excess or sufficiency of Ca in conjunctionwith CaO the reaction produced is as follows:

or this may be otherwise expressed in a diagram form thus:

a cac,=cag c 1 1,0 =H HO Serial No. 568,942. (No specimens.)

drogen unite, these latter appearing in the form of ethylene gas,expressed by the wellknown formula 0 H, Y I h In this specification I donot refer to the production of calcium in an isolated state-- that is,calcium unalloyed with other substance. Take the equation that is,metallic calcium and carbon monoxid. I have found that while thistheoretical reaction may not be commercially carried out in the electricfurnace, the following reaction does take place. When a mixture of limeand carbon is fused in the electric furnace, the quantity of carbon isin excess of that required to reduce the lime by combining the oxygen ofthe lime, yet of such amount as to convert a portion only, and not thewhole of said reduced lime, into calcium carbid. Then the balance ofsaid reduced lime exists as calcium combined with calcium carbid,forming an alloy represented by the equation Oa(calci u m) OaG (calci um ca rbid.)

Comparing the production of calcium carbid and calcium alloys,thirty-six pounds of carbon with fifty-six pounds of lime may berepresented by the following equation:

36 pounds carbon 12C -:::--C0

' 2 (6-1 pounds) 112 pounds lime 1G0 (28 pounds) (28 pounds) (40 pounds)(Metallic calcium.)

48 pounds carbon u The above makes plain that I do not resort to the useof isolated metallic calcium, but of a calcium alloyed with calciumcarbid and V i i I which is readily produced in the electric furhydrogentransforms the generated acetylene 1o nace. into ethylene.

What I claim is-- In testimony whereof I affix my signature The processof producing ethylene gas,() l-I in presence of two witnesses. whichconsists in decomposing water, H O, in i 1 the presence of a compoundconsisting; of a JAMES ALBERT DEUTIHLR' compound such as described,composed of a WVitnesses: metal capable of decomposing Water, and theJOHN R. VVALSH, carbid of such metal whereby the nascent H. E. LODGE.

